No "A" For Effort: Train and Study The Competition

I was thinking about elite performance today. Some people go after it, some are scared of it, some reject it, some are content to sit and watch it on TV. No matter your stance I challenge you to deny that not all people are created equal, or if we are, we sure don’t end up equal in the end.

I’m not talking about gender, race, or any of those other easy fall-back excuses as to why one or the other of us didn’t see and take our chances, I’m talking about elite performance at the individual level, not a demographic one. Some people just explode onto the scene and define it. I’m reminded of Craig Kelly who you may not know because he died way too young in an avalanche doing what he loved. He’s a legend in snowboarding, in the NW and on Mt. Baker, his home mountain, where I learned to snowboard.

The Craig Kelly’s of the world are one in a million — although timing may be everything — the rest of us build our elite performance one training session, one life experience at a time. Call us late bloomers. We see the top and strive because to strive is to live.

No “A” for Effort

I was reminded of this recently after attending a meeting where women presented their startups to an investment group focused on funding women-led businesses. Now, to start, I think it’s great that someone out there is interested in giving women a leg up. Women need to help women succeed — that’s where, in my opinion, group effort is useful and worthwhile. However, toward what level of performance? In entrepreneurship, only the elite succeed and it is important to fail when you aren’t good enough, learn from it and try again (or get out while the getting is good). I came away from the meeting disappointed that women are not holding other women to a high enough bar. The women contemplating investment were not consistent in demanding that the women presenting to them be, or be working hard to be, elite. And, that’s a problem.

“Women should absolutely mentor women… brutally. Let us push each other forward as we rip the scales from our eyes. This business is not for everyone, male or female. It is hard, scary, and fraught with very real danger. To compete you must be able to swim in the same pool as the men and be better, what the heck do you think they’re doing?

Competition means everything will be used against you, including being a woman. Men are using everything against each other to win why should it be different for us? If you’ve ever played a team sport you know this is the rule. The difference in entrepreneurship is that the stakes are real and they don’t end with the buzzer. Use every tool you’ve got. But wait, do it with integrity — I didn’t say it would be easy.”

— Lisa Maki,
Co-Founder & President,
BeliefNetwork

We do each other and ourselves a disservice denying that there are multiple levels of performance to everything we do. While we all choose different challenges in life, we can all choose to excel at the ones we do. There is room for only a few who are the best at each pursuit, who set the bar for the rest of us, and to join that club you must, bottom line, be that good. Life is not a game where everyone wins and I do not support any program or fund for women, or anyone else for that matter, that does not paint an honest picture of what’s required to win even if its focus is to offer a stepping-stone toward that goal.

So what does that mean for women in tech, practically speaking? The list of successful female entrepreneurs in the tech world is so short it’s almost non-existent. I want to increase the number of talented women in tech; I’m tired of being the only woman in the room meeting after meeting, job after job. But, we do not help women become successful entrepreneurs by making them think they’re in the club when they aren’t. We help them by setting the bar high, communicating it clearly, recognizing those who have the potential to hit it and respectfully but firmly telling the rest to go home.

Learning is a process and there are programs out there that teach entrepreneurship in a very real way and women should compete to be accepted. Venuetastic’s recent funding by Y Combinator is a great example. However, getting a firm “no”, particularly when it is honestly delivered by another woman who’s been there is equally if not more instructive.

Know this, high tech entrepreneurship is one of the most dangerous games on earth; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If you are really playing the game you are bound to lose everything, at least once, as well as everything you borrowed from the friends and family that love you. Your ego will receive an extreme beating and if you can’t recreate a tougher, more balanced and self-aware version of your ego you will fail.

Train! Study your competition, learn from them and then develop your own unique style based on your strengths.

I don’t want to read any more posts about whether or not it’s ok to cry at work. That is irrelevant. What you need to perfect is the ability to decide the appropriateness of any emotion at any given time in the course of your day as an entrepreneur and the leader of your company — when to cry, when to tell a joke to break the tension, when to shut up, when to motivate and when to wait. If you screw up, own up and keep going.

Seek out brutally honest mentors (especially men) and re-evaluate your strengths and contribution every day. Remember, you don’t have to be CEO to be an entrepreneur so be honest about whether or not that’s your best fit as founder — the success of your company depends on it.

As in life, the key to succeeding at entrepreneurship is “know thyself” and there is nothing quite like entrepreneurship to strip the extra away. Once you do, you will never again mistake mediocrity for a helping hand. Good luck, don’t settle, fight hard.

About the guest blogger: Lisa Maki co-founded BeliefNetworks, a predictive analytics and semantic intelligence technology startup acquired by Benefitfocus in 2010. Prior to BeliefNetworks, Lisa held roles at Microsoft including Product Unit Manager and Director of Program Management. She is currently pitching a consumer health startup and is on the board of relocality, a woman-founded real estate startup. Follow her on Twitter at @l_maki.

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I think these are very important points that need to be made for anyone, male or female, as they progress in any endeavor that’s important to them — career, entrepreneurship, athletics, whatever. I believe there is a time and a place for encouragement — especially for younger women entering a field that have lacked role models in the past — and equally, there comes a time where simply handing out a “participation ribbon” does more harm than good. Excellence in any high-stakes environment requires critical, honest, and complete feedback from leaders and mentors — seek it out!

I’m glad I read this, it’s a good reminder. As a female entrepreneur in times of self doubt, it’s seductive to get carried away with the ‘perceived obstacles’ against the female gender in technology. The reality is that technology is cut throat, highly competitive and unforgiving of mistakes, misjudgements no matter what the gender is of the CEO. One has to strive for excellence, the market doesn’t lie. Thanks Lisa.